


Spooky Tales of the Old Republic

by stellacadente



Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, One Shot Collection, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 21:57:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12466772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacadente/pseuds/stellacadente
Summary: Scary stories from Tumblr prompts received during October 2017.





	1. Wake Up! I Heard Something Outside the Ship!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 prompt courtesy of @rinskiroo, brogs courtesy of @fluffynexu.  
> Chapter 2 prompt courtesy of @gerdavonrinnlingen; Vette's spooky tale borrowed from https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/1xaqs6/i_found_an_open_wifi_connection/

**_On Quesh, while on the run from Baras_ **

_A long banquet table, loaded with food. Not too elegant. Only one place setting. Xhareen sat down at the table, picked up the hefty knife and fork and cut a huge chunk of brog meat, juicy and perfectly encrusted with …_

“Wake up!”

She sat up.

“Wake up, darling. I heard something outside the ship.”

It was Quinn. His quarters. No table, no knife, no brog meat about to get eaten. They’d had replicated food for the past 15 days, since there was nothing safe to eat on this blighted world.

“What the kriff!” she said, none too lovingly.

“Shhh, listen.” He lifted his hand, and she caught the sound. Skittering. Not softly.

“Sounds like spiders,” she whispered.

“Not just any spider. Nardoc spiders,” he explained in an agitated whisper that told her she wouldn’t be getting back to her delicious dream any time soon.

“They’re bloody huge and their bites, though not particularly toxic, are among the most painful in the galaxy. They’ve evolved out of all this bloody chemical mess on this bloody planet.”

“That’s three times you’ve said bloody in two sentences, Quinn. You sound like my grandfather watching Huttball matches.”

“I’m not joking, Xhareen. We need to plan a course of action to stay safe and get rid of them.”

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of spiders,” she scoffed.

He sighed. “Nardoc aren’t just any spider. They are a legitimate threat.”

“Not if we don’t leave the ship.”

“They’re more than capable of chewing through the power lines keeping our systems running while we sit here in this hangar. The electrostatic barrier keeps short circuiting due to the high acid content of the air here. And … I won’t be able to sleep until I know they are not out there.”

Just then, the cabin door chimed. Before Xhareen could get clothes on and answer it, she heard Vette’s voice.

“Wake up, guys, please?”

Xhareen grabbed Quinn’s lounging robe and threw it on. Quinn ran to the fresher, grabbing the matching trousers on the way.

The door opened and Vette dashed into the room and immediately grabbed onto Xhareen.

“There are creepy noises outside the ship. I need Quinn’s help to fix the barrier thingie in case it’s some kind of nasty Quesh bug or something.”

“Don’t tell me, you’re afraid of Nardoc spiders, too?” Xhareen had been hunting creatures bigger than she was since she was a child. She was not about to let some stupid spider ruin her night’s sleep.

“NARDOC SPIDERS? WHAT THE KRIFF?” Vette’s shouting brought Quinn out of the fresher, waving his hands to quiet her.

“OK, sorry,” she said, close enough to a whisper to appease Quinn. “I hate all spiders. But they’re the worst!”

Xhareen threw her hands up in the air. “Has everyone else heard about these blasted spiders but me?”

“We should get our toxic site gear on, my lord,” Quinn said. “We need to take care of them before they damage the ship.”

“I’ll go wake up Jaesa,” Vette said. “Hopefully you and she can just zap these things with your lightsabers and none of us will have to …”

A quick succession of booming “thunks,” punctuated by a growing crescendo of unholy screeching, interrupted her. Jaesa was out in the lounge area within three seconds.

“Are we under attack?” she shouted.

“Quinn, get to the bridge and get the sensors on,” Xhareen ordered after the noise ended and she could think again.

The words “right away” were just about to come out of his lips when Broonmark came through the entryway, a large stick protruding out of a heavy cloth sack he used when he caught his own meals. Vette called it his “feed bag” and laughed every time she said it.

Except no one was laughing now. Something was oozing out of one corner of the bag.

“Problem solved, Sith clan,” he snarled.

A horrible thought struck her. “Broonmark, you know you cannot eat them,” Xhareen said, hoping he would agree.

“Not eating any of this world’s poisons. But anything that interrupts my dreams of hunting somewhere clean must die,” he said.

“Quinn, Vette, first thing in the morning, you two review our intel and see if it’s safe for us to leave here.”

“Yes, my lord,” they said in unison.


	2. The Haunted Holo-Connection

**_Yavin IV, during the events of Shadow of Revan_ **

Though the Sith and Jedi elite and the Republic and Imperial military leaders were finding much common ground at the planning table, there was little accord among the troops. Fights, none of them serious, had broken out several times and the two factions had essentially retreated to opposite sides of the clearing that was functioning as the staging area.

Xhareen had secured a large tent for her crew to sleep in away from the rabble. While she wasn’t happy that she and Quinn had to sleep on separate cots, it was, at least, good to have him close by her at night.

On the first night, Quinn had been able to build a small fire pit that could stay lit for many hours, and the crew found themselves sitting around it, roasting whatever Treek or Broonmark had managed to kill that day.

On the third night, after a fractious day that saw more fighting in the common areas of the staging grounds than with the Revanites, Xhareen declared she was going to sleep right after dinner.

“But you can’t!” Vette protested. “It’s Spirit Night on Ryloth. We sit around group fires and tell scary stories.”

“OK, Vette. I think I can manage to keep my eyes open for one story.”

“Cool.”

Vette removed her head band and put on a headdress made – rather recently, from the smell of it – of feathers from one of the colorful birds that inhabited the relentless jungle of this moon.

Jaesa started to laugh. “Where in the galaxy did you get that from, Vette?”

“Hey. Treek made it for me. From last night’s dinner.”

Jaesa stopped laughing and even in the fading light, they could all see her turning a new shade of green. Treek harrumphed and Broonmark snorted and slapped his knee six times in a row.*

Quinn leaned over and whispered, “Don’t fret, I have stims for that.”

“HEY! Can I tell my story?”

“Everyone, behave. Let Vette tell her story,” Pierce said.

“For once, we are in agreement,” Quinn added.

“EXCUSE ME! OK. So, this is the story of the haunted holofrequency. And no, I never told this story on Ryloth. But if you stand around certain trashcan fires on Nar Shaddaa, you’re sure to hear a version of it. Because it’s something that totally happened to every slicer, ever.

“So these two slicers, Mari and Lari, were out in some creepy place that looked an awful lot like here because they lost a bet or something. They did some hiking, they went for a swim and they ate a few ration bars, they probably did some stims I won’t mention because Major Prudent here wouldn’t approve. But anyway, they finally decided they really, really needed to jack in to the Holonet or die of boredom.

“Lari laughed because she figured they wouldn’t be able to get a signal out here, which was the whole purpose of losing the bet. But Mari was determined. She walked around the perimeter of their campsite for a half hour, then finally squealed when she found a connect.

“The ID code was ‘Free Holo Service,’ but before they could both get a good signal, it started to drop. So Lari decided to help triangulate. Maybe there was an old broadcast beacon somewhere nearby. Lari could fix anything and maybe if they could spend the rest of the time watching “As The Galaxy Turns,” she figured this wouldn’t be a bad way to spend some time alone with her best girl.

“They finally found the signal’s location, but there was nothing there. They dug through the piles of leaves and sticks, but all they found was an angry wild wrat who scurried off.

“When they got back to their campsite, they realized their food and their totally legal stims had been stolen. All of their other gear was still there and so were their speeders.

“Mari turned to Lari and said, ‘Kriff this stupid bet, let’s get out of here.’ She checked her datapad and saw that she had the connection again, except this time it was named …”

Just then, Jaesa and Xhareen both jumped up and started to move toward the command center area. Quinn was so startled, he dropped the stick he used to tend the fire into the fire. Pierce, not thinking, tried to remove it with his bare hands. Quinn tried to stop him. Both men were cursing almost in unison.

Broonmark started to snort.

“What the kriff, you guys?” Vette said.

“Sorry, Vette. It’s the silent alarm, used to call the Force users to the staging area,” Xhareen said.

“I hope it’s not another fight,” Jaesa said with a sigh.

“We need to go find out,” Xhareen said. The two ran off at Force speed, leaving a trail of leaves behind them.

The others watched them until they were out of sight, which wasn’t very long. Vette picked up a fresh stick and started poking at the dying fire.

“I hope Xhareen can put an end to the friendly fighting so we can all get to the business of the actual fight,” she said. “I hate it when reality is scarier than a good ghost story.”

Quinn, who was finished putting kolto salve on his and Pierce’s big mitts, reached over and put his unburned hand on Vette’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Vette. You know she will.”

After a moment, Pierce broke the silence. “Hey, Vette. What was the name of the frequency?”

Vette smiled. “Oh, it was: YOU GIRLS BETTER RUN.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Xhareen has determined that's how Broonmark laughs. She hopes.


End file.
